ScreenPriv
From the ScreenPriv guide to screen privacy for phones
ScreenPriv is a screen privacy mode for phones. It limits how much of your screen can be seen from the side, while the view straight on keeps its colours and brightness. It comes as a viewing profile made for your own phone, so the person peeking from the next seat sees a dark rectangle and you go on reading.
1 How it works
Every screen can be read from more than one angle. You look at yours head-on; your neighbour on the train or at the counter sees it from the side. ScreenPriv handles those two views separately.
Your profile pairs a side-angle dimming curve with a direct-view clarity map. The curve darkens the screen as the angle widens toward the seat beside you. The map keeps the centre view the way you know it, so photos, chats and banking apps look normal to you.
2 Setting it up
- Confirm your device. Say whether you have an iPhone or an Android.
- Let it read your display. The profile is shaped to your screen, not a generic one.
- Get your viewing profile. Dimming curve, clarity map and auto-on in public places, built for your phone.
3 The seat beside you
Reading a screen over someone's shoulder has a name in computer security.[1]
As the source says
In a shoulder-surfing attack, observation may be done remotely or at close range by covertly looking over the target's shoulder.
What it means for you
The closest eyes in a bus, a queue or a waiting room are almost never right in front of your phone. They are at your side, at an angle.
That angle is the one ScreenPriv turns dark.
4 Glossary
Tap a card to turn it over.
Auto-on Tap to turn
Your profile switches itself on in public places, so you never have to remember it before a ride.
Clarity map Tap to turn
The part of the profile that keeps the head-on view sharp, with your colours and brightness left as they are.
Dimming curve Tap to turn
How the screen goes dark as the viewing angle moves off centre, toward the seat next to you.
Shoulder surfing Tap to turn
Reading someone's screen by looking over their shoulder, on purpose or from plain curiosity.
Viewing angle Tap to turn
The angle between your screen and the eyes looking at it. Straight on is yours, the wide angles belong to the neighbours.
Viewing profile Tap to turn
The setup ScreenPriv builds for your exact phone, iPhone or Android, with the curve, the map and auto-on inside.
5 References
- "Shoulder surfing (computer security)", Wikipedia, listed under Sources below.
- Photo of a phone with a privacy display, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0, cropped.